Let's make some deals

January 29, 2008

The president at the microphone Monday night for his final State of the Union address? Last month, 32 percent of the Americans surveyed told Gallup pollsters they approve of his performance. Those who disapprove: 65 percent. And the members of Congress arrayed before him? Their approval rating is 23 percent. That's better than the Ebola virus, but when their disapproval rating is 71 percent, you're nobody's heroes.

So we were struck Monday night by several rich possibilities to give a lame-duck president and a do-little Congress some quality time before they part in 2009. Maybe we're channeling more than Bush or Congress wants. But consider the long wish list Bush suggested -- and what Democrats with little to show for their first year running Congress might extract from him in return. Consider:

The president pleaded Monday night for renewal of No Child Left Behind. That accountability law challenges an education industry that Bush famously derided for its soft bigotry of low expectations.

"Members of Congress: The No Child Left Behind Act is a bipartisan achievement," Bush said in his speech. "It is succeeding. And we owe it to America's children, their parents and their teachers to strengthen this good law." And if Congress reauthorizes NCLB, makes it better and avoids eviscerating it? Maybe Bush would agree to sign the child health coverage legislation that would help Democrats in re-election campaigns.

Similarly, Bush urged Congress to approve trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Suppose Democrats concur -- in return for much more money to re-educate workers whose jobs have vanished.

The operative template here is the $150 billion stimulus package, the election-year compact that has united a Republican White House and a Democratic House. It's not sound economic policy. (See the editorial below.) But the Indy 500 pace of negotiations among House Republicans and Democrats and the White House reflected (a) shared fear of angry voters, (b) shared desire to actually accomplish something, or (c) both.

The Democrats spent 2007 essentially running against Bush. They lost dozens of congressional votes in failed attempts to wage war policy. The resulting gridlock in Washington helped to earn them the unpopularity they face today. Now they refuse to recognize, much less applaud, the recent successes in Iraq.

With neither Bush nor Iraq as easy targets this November, the Democrats would be smart to get past their tepid applause Monday night and send a constructive message to the White House: George W. Bush has a long list of wishes to cap his career. We have wishes too. Let's make some deals.